Chapter 56

After court ended, Yun Yaoyao was distracted as she prepared to return to Qianqing Palace.

Just then, Tu Shanjin arrived. Judging by his expression, he had only just learned the news as well.

The two exchanged a look, dismissed the palace attendants behind them, and walked toward a nearby artificial rockery.

As they discussed the matter, voices suddenly reached their ears.

“Do you know who lives inside Xiwang Palace, the one guarded by layer upon layer of imperial guards?”

Yun Yaoyao immediately took Tu Shanjin’s hand and pulled him farther behind the rockery.

She failed to notice the subtle change in Tu Shanjin’s expression when he heard the words “Xiwang Palace.”

The woman’s voice, tinged with excitement, rang out again.

“There are two people living inside. One is the birth mother of His Majesty, the current emperor. The other is a hostage prince sent here by the Xiongnu after they were defeated and sued for peace more than ten years ago!”

“Huh?” Her listener was utterly shocked. “The Empress Dowager and an enemy-state hostage prince? I’ve never heard that there was an Empress Dowager in the palace. And an enemy hostage prince… how could the two of them be living together?”

There was far too much information, and it was all far too explosive. Yun Yaoyao pricked up her ears and continued eavesdropping.

“I’m only telling you this because I trust you. You mustn’t tell anyone else!”

“Don’t worry, Mistress. I’m famous for keeping secrets!”

“I heard that, when she was young, the Empress Dowager had a world-shaking love affair with the Xiongnu King. But the two of them had a misunderstanding, and after giving birth to their child, the Empress Dowager returned to Yan Chi in despair.”

“Who could have known that the late emperor would take a fancy to her, force her into the palace, and have her give birth to His Majesty?”

“When the Xiongnu King learned that his woman was in the Yan Chi imperial palace and had even become the emperor’s favored consort, he flew into a rage. He sent thirty thousand cavalry to trample Yan Chi underfoot and reclaim his woman!”

“And then?” Her listener was completely hooked and asked anxiously.

“Then the Xiongnu were defeated. The Xiongnu King came up with a plan and sent their child to the Yan Chi imperial palace as a hostage. He didn’t tell the child that his mother was in the palace. Instead, he ordered him to lie low in Yan Chi and find a way to take back the emperor’s favored consort—the Empress Dowager.”

“And then?!”

“Then the most dramatic thing of all happened! While lying low in Yan Chi, the hostage prince gradually fell in love with the favored consort. As she watched him grow up, the favored consort saw the shadow of the Xiongnu King in him and transferred her love for the Xiongnu King onto him.”

“The Empress Dowager fell in love with her own son?!”

“When the Empress Dowager left the Xiongnu King back then, she thought the child she had given birth to was already dead. That was why she didn’t know he was her own son.”

“The hostage prince fell in love with his biological mother, while the Empress Dowager mistook her own son for her lover’s substitute. And the Xiongnu King had no idea that his own son had cuckolded him. What a tragic mess…”

“Oh, heavens!”

Her listener let out the most powerful expression of shock in her entire vocabulary.

Yun Yaoyao was equally stunned.

If there had been a meme to represent her state of mind, it would undoubtedly have been a dead-pig-stunned-jaw.jpg.

At the same time, Yun Yaoyao cast Tu Shanjin a sympathetic glance.

Poor kid…

Who could have known that Tu Shanjin’s face had turned black as coal? Gritting his teeth furiously, he said, “Apart from the fact that the people living in Xiwang Palace are the Empress Dowager and the hostage prince, everything else she said is false!”

Huh?

Yun Yaoyao froze, looking doubtful. “Could it be that you don’t know?”

“Yun Yaoyao!” Tu Shanjin completely lost his temper.

Seeing ​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​‍that the tyrant was truly furious, Yun Yaoyao immediately shut up. She quietly poked her head out from behind the rockery and looked toward the two speakers.

The instant she saw the familiar face, Yun Yaoyao was rendered speechless.

Oh, it was that woman who had been recruited into the harem because she was good at spreading rumors. In that case, everything made sense.

No wonder she had been specially recruited. She really was exceptionally talented at making things up!

She had told the story with such conviction and in such detail that one would think she had been hiding under the protagonists’ bed when it all happened.

The worst part was that Yun Yaoyao had actually believed her!

Still, this was the first time she had heard anything about the tyrant’s biological mother. She was actually still alive…

Yun Yaoyao was just about to step forward and reprimand and punish the woman when the gears turning in her mind suddenly clicked.

Inspiration struck.

She knew how to resolve Ning Shoujiang’s capture by the Xiongnu!

“Tu Shanjin, is there anything wrong with Fang Yao’er’s background?” Yun Yaoyao asked, smoothing down Tu Shanjin’s fur—figuratively speaking.

Tu Shanjin’s gaze deepened. “Her background is perfectly clean. Does that affect whether I can have her beheaded?”

Yun Yaoyao asked again, “As emperor, you must have trained quite a few spies in the Xiongnu, right?”

“Mm. What exactly are you planning?”

Yun Yaoyao did not answer the tyrant. Instead, she cleared her throat and stepped out from behind the rockery.

“What is the punishment for spreading rumors about the Empress Dowager behind her back?”

Yun Yaoyao’s sudden appearance scared five of the six souls out of Fang Yao’er. She dropped to her knees with a thump.

“Your… Your… Your Majesty, spare my life!”

Oh no. She had danced right in front of the real person!

Yun Yaoyao’s expression turned cold as she scolded her. “Did I not tell you that, after entering the palace, you were forbidden to spread rumors recklessly?”

Fang Yao’er nodded frantically through her tears and kowtowed in fear as she begged for mercy.

Yes, His Majesty had told her that.

When she had first entered the palace, she had faithfully remembered the emperor’s instructions and refrained from stirring up rumors in the harem.

But the other palace ladies who had their own talents had either been sent to work for His Majesty, or, if they had nothing to do, had been assigned instructors by the emperor to help them further hone their skills.

As for her, the woman whose only talent was spreading rumors, she had simply been left idle.

And people were bound to get into trouble when they had too much free time—especially when spreading rumors was practically in her blood. She simply couldn’t control herself!

Today, when she saw that no one was around, the little nerve in her brain labeled “spread rumors” could no longer hold itself back. So she had casually invented a rumor based on her own guesses.

Who could have known…

She had always known that this mouth of hers would get her into trouble sooner or later. No—this time, it had gotten her sent straight to her own funeral!

ᕦ༼༎ຶ_༎ຶ༽ᕗ

“Your Majesty, please spare me! I truly won’t dare do it again!” Fang Yao’er regretted it so deeply that her intestines had turned green.

Yun Yaoyao warned Fang Yao’er’s maidservant with a look, then ordered the maidservant to move farther away so she could speak to Fang Yao’er alone.

“Would you like to atone for your crime through meritorious service?” Yun Yaoyao asked sternly.

“Yes, yes, yes!” Fang Yao’er nodded frantically, hope flashing in her eyes.

“Then I’ll point you toward a way out.”

“The Xiongnu King originally had thirteen sons. After they slaughtered one another in the struggle for the throne, only two remain.”

“One is Huyansi, a brave and ruthless warrior who is highly valued by the Xiongnu King and already shows every sign of becoming the next king.”

“The other is Huyan Mu, who was sent to Yan Chi as a hostage when he was young and has since been abandoned by the Xiongnu King.”

“The Xiongnu revere sorcerers. I will secretly send you to the Xiongnu. Someone will teach you everything you need to know about sorcery along the way. Once you arrive, you will assume a forged identity as a sorcerer, and there will be people there to assist you.”

In Yun Yaoyao’s understanding, sorcerers were much like fortune-tellers under modern overpasses. Besides possessing a few minor tricks, they also needed the ability to say whatever suited the person in front of them, as well as the quick wit to make up nonsense on the spot.

Fang Yao’er just happened to be exceptionally gifted in both areas.

“Your task is to find a way to convince the Xiongnu King that Huyansi is not his biological son, and that the hostage prince, Huyan Mu, is his only surviving true son!”

Fang Yao’er wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes, her gaze flickering.

Making up rumors and fooling people?

Wasn’t that precisely what she loved doing—and what she was best at?